An independent United Nations body on Tuesday condemned what it described as “vicious attacks based on disinformation" by several European ministers against the organization's special rapporteur for "Palestine," Francesca Albanese, Reuters reports.
In the past week, several European countries, including Germany, France, and Italy, called for the resignation of Albanese over her most recent criticism of Israel. Albanese, an Italian lawyer known for her consistent anti-Israel bias, denies making the specific remarks in question.
On Thursday, World Jewish Congress (WJC) President Ronald S. Lauder joined the list of those who have called for Albanese’s removal.
The calls for her removal follow remarks delivered at the Al Jazeera conference, in which Albanese had said: “The fact that instead of stopping Israel, most of the world has armed, given Israel political excuses, political sheltering, economic and financial support ... We who do not control large amounts of financial capitals, algorithms and weapons, we now see that we as a humanity have a common enemy."
Albanese later claimed in an interview with France24 that she "never, ever, ever said ‘Israel is the common enemy of humanity,'" calling the accusations "completely false accusations."
The UN Coordination Committee, a body consisting of six independent experts that coordinates the work of Special Rapporteurs, on Tuesday accused the European ministers of relying on "manufactured facts" in their criticism of Albanese.
"Instead of demanding Ms. Albanese's resignation for performing her mandate... these government representatives should join forces to hold accountable, including before the International Criminal Court, leaders and officials accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza," the Committee stated, as quoted by Reuters.
The Committee further claimed that the pressure exerted on Albanese is part of an increasing trend of politically motivated and malicious attacks against independent human rights experts, UN officials, and judges of international courts.
Albanese’s history of anti-Israel statements and actions is well-documented and dates back to social media posts uncovered in 2022, in which she claimed that the “Jewish lobby" controls the US.
At the time, Albanese rejected arguments that the comments about the “Jewish lobby" were antisemitic and claimed they were “mischaracterized", but her anti-Israel bias has continued to be exposed since.
Her criticism of Israel has grown since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack in Israel. The attack, in which Hamas terrorists killed over 1,200 people and took 250 hostages, was described by Albanese as an act that must be viewed in “context" and as a response to Israeli “aggression."
She has also in recent months accused Israel of genocide, likened the Government of Israel to the “Third Reich," and compared Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler.
Albanese was recently sanctioned by the administration of US President Donald Trump after she wrote letters to American companies accusing them of contributing to gross human rights violations in Gaza and Judea and Samaria.
UN experts are commissioned by the Geneva-based Human Rights Council to monitor specific crises but remain independent of the organization itself. While there is no precedent for removing a special rapporteur during their term, diplomats noted that states on the 47-member council could theoretically propose a motion to do so.
However, observers say that such a motion is unlikely to pass due to the strong support for Palestinian Arab rights within the body.